Saturday, July 31, 2010

We have arrived!

Kia Ora –

It is great to finally be here!

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind. We managed to pack up our entire house – left Seattle - Spent some time in San Diego and Los Angeles and spent 4 days at San Diego Comic Con, all before flying out to Wellington.

We left too much to do until the end and got very little sleep the 3 days before the movers arrived with the shipping container. We owe huge thanks to some very dear friends in Seattle who helped make it possible. "THANK YOU"and we miss you.

There were also a few glitches with the paperwork that we had to work through and did.

And we struggled with the “goodbyes” to our cats. Mithral and Thor are slowly adjusting to their new life in San Diego and we miss them terribly.

After a 13 hour flight from LAX to Auckland – customs, a three hour layover and another one hour flight, we arrived in Wellington on Wednesday the 28th (which was still Tuesday to you back in the States). I’d like to add that I slept most of it and enjoyed the much needed relaxation.

Did I mention the 7 checked bags?

We then checked in to our temporary housing/apt. It is a one room flat - think college dorm room. Eric and I are sharing a double bed…It is cozy and we are having fun with it. We did rearrange the furniture. And we have to share a single internet connection.

The biggest issue now is our cell phones – Still trying to unlock the iPhones so we can use them here. AT&T misled us and we were told we could use them here by just switching the sim card. But no. We feel very disconnected with out them.

We also did our first marketing…some but not a lot of familiar brands. Cheddar Cheese, one of my staples, was only available in white, not yellow and comes in either “mild” or “tasty” - neither are close to the “sharp” I like.

Money is cool. The Kiwis are smart. The paper bills start at 5 New Zealand Dollars(NZD) and are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100. And the coins are 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 dollar and 2 dollar. NO Pennies! At the market when they total your receipt there is a line item that says “rounding” and they adjust it to the nearest 0.

We rented a car one day and borrowed a car another and trying do some driving.

I have tried to get into the wrong side of the car twice, and tried to go up the down escalator –everything is on the wrong side or upside down and you find that your body is preprogrammed so it is difficult not to be on autopilot for the regular day to day things. Up is also down. Light switches flip opposite.

1 comment:

Hi Stace and Eric, So great to hear from you! Your description of your flat as "college dorm" room is right on! Very funny! I imagine that, plus everything else though is a huge adjustment. Good to hear you are having fun with all of it! What else can you do? And the up down thing? Wow! There is no way I would not automatically step on the escalators the wrong way! Be careful! and take care!Lots of love,La